Hi ha un banc davant de la botiga.

Yes. Hi ha is the standard Catalan way to say there is or there are.

• Hi is a little locative particle.
• Ha comes from the verb haver.

So:

• Hi ha un banc = There is a bench / bank
• Hi ha dos bancs = There are two benches / banks

Unlike English, Catalan uses the same form hi ha for both singular and plural in everyday usage.

Because hi ha works as a fixed expression in Catalan for existence. You normally need both parts together when saying that something exists or is somewhere.

So you say:

• Hi ha un banc...
• not normally Ha un banc...

A good way to remember it is to treat hi ha as one chunk meaning there is / there are.

Davant de means in front of.

In Catalan, many location expressions are followed by de before the noun:

• davant de la botiga = in front of the shop
• a prop de casa = near home
• al costat de l’escola = next to the school

So de is just part of the normal structure after davant when it introduces what something is in front of.

Because Catalan usually uses the definite article with nouns in cases like this, just as English says the shop.

• la botiga = the shop
• de la botiga = of/from the shop, but here as part of davant de la botiga = in front of the shop

If you removed la, it would sound incomplete or unnatural in this sentence.

Botiga is a feminine singular noun, so it takes the feminine singular definite article la.

Catalan articles:

• el = masculine singular
• la = feminine singular
• els = masculine plural
• les = feminine plural

So:

• la botiga = the shop
• les botigues = the shops

You often just have to learn the gender along with the noun.

Not always. Banc can mean different things depending on context, especially bench or bank.

In a sentence like Hi ha un banc davant de la botiga, the most natural meaning is often There is a bench in front of the shop, but context matters.

So banc is a word you should learn with more than one possible meaning.

This order is very natural in Catalan: first you introduce the existence of something, then you say where it is.

• Hi ha un banc davant de la botiga. = There is a bench in front of the shop.

But Catalan can also move things around for emphasis, for example:

• Davant de la botiga hi ha un banc.

That means the same thing, but it emphasizes the location a bit more, like In front of the shop, there is a bench.

Yes. In standard modern Catalan, hi ha is used for both:

• Hi ha un banc. = There is a bench.
• Hi ha uns bancs. = There are some benches.

So unlike English, you do not change it to a plural form like there are.

You put no before hi ha:

• No hi ha un banc davant de la botiga.

More naturally, if you mean There isn’t a bench in front of the shop, Catalan often uses:

• No hi ha cap banc davant de la botiga.

Here cap means something like any in negative sentences.

You can simply use the same word order and raise your intonation in speech:

• Hi ha un banc davant de la botiga?

In writing, the question mark shows it is a question. Catalan does not need extra words like English is there.

A simple English-friendly approximation is:

• bo-TEE-guh

A bit more carefully:

• bo as in bother without the final r
• ti with the stress: TEE
• ga with a soft final vowel sound

The stress is on the second syllable: bo-TI-ga.

A rough approximation is:

• duh-VAN

The stress is on the second syllable. The final t is often very light or not strongly pronounced, depending on accent and speech.

So davant de la botiga sounds roughly like:

• duh-VAN de la bo-TEE-guh

Yes, often you can. Enfront de also means in front of / opposite.

• davant de la botiga
• enfront de la botiga

Depending on context, enfront de can sometimes feel a bit more like opposite than simply in front of, while davant de is the most basic everyday expression for in front of. Both are useful, but davant de is the safest one to learn first.